Device for pressing sheet material



y 1934- G. HAZELTON 1,957,590

DEVICE FOR PRESSING SHEET MATERIAL Filed Aug. 24, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l Fig.1.

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DEVICE FOR PRESSINCT SHEET MATERIAL Filed Aug. 24, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheer. 2

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hafented May 8, 1934 UNITED STATES PATEN? @FFHQE George Hazelton, Leicester,

United Shoe Machinery Corporation, N. J., a corporation of New England, assignor to Paterson, Jersey Application August 24, 1931, Serial No. 559,043 In Great Britain September 19, 1930 15 Claims.

This invention relates to the pressing of sheet material and is illustrated as embodied in a device for use in efiecting the reinforcement of pieces of leather or other material which are to form portions of the uppers of boots or shoes, the

term shoe being hereinafter used for convenience to include both boots and shoes.

It is a common practice in shoe manufacture to reinforce parts of shoe uppers when the material is of a thin or fragile nature as, for example, reptile skins often are, by causing a backing, usually thin cotton cloth previously coated with adhesive substance, to adhere to that side of the work-piece which will not be visible in wear. The nature of the adhesive is often such that the pressure of a heated iron suffices to cause the backing to adhere to the work-piece.

While the backing of upper and similar parts can be and is usually done by pressing the part to be backed and the backing together with an ordinary domestic laundry iron, heated electrically or otherwise and manipulated by hand, the labor involved puts a low limit upon the output of work; also, while ironing machines, operated by power or otherwise of a nature that does not require manual lifting of the weight of the ironing device, exist, they are not suitable for the particular operation in view owing partly to the variety of shapes of shoe upper parts which require different ironing actions.

Although machines by which shoe upper and like parts of leather may be pressed into contact with backing parts are known, such machines usually include a pressing device operated by a pedal to press upon a work-piece located on a table under the pressing device. In working with apparatus of this nature, however, the workpiece and its backing are not subjected to any traversing action of the pressing device. However, wrinkled material frequently requires a combined pressing and traversing action.

With the foregoing in mind and with a view also to meeting the various requirements present ed by differing materials and shapes of parts to be treated, one feature of the invention resides in a work support, a cooperating pressing device mounted for movement across the support, the support being mounted for limited movement toward each side of the path of the pressing device and means for ur ing said support toward a position intermediate between its extreme positions. Thus, the Work support is moved away from a certain predetermined central position by the operator but is yieldingly returned to this position without any attention or effort on the part of the operator.

The pressing means employed in a device embodying the present invention may, for example, and as herein shown, he an iron of a well-known type having suiiicient weight to perform satisfactorily a pressing operation such as has been referred to above. The illustrated iron, moreover, is mounted not only for movement across the work support for the purpose above referred to but is also arranged for movement toward and away from the support for the purpose of facilitating the placement on and removal from the work support of work pieces.

The invention, in another aspect, provides novel means, for lifting the iron from engagement with the work support in a pressing device of the type illustrated, in combination with a parallel link mechanism whereby a relation of parallelism between the work engaging faces of the iron and the work support is maintained when they are separated. This means as herein illustrated is shaped to receive an edge of the iron, and is pivotally mounted so as to be swung by and to elevate the iron as it is moved rearwardly across the work support. As a result of this construction the iron is bodily elevated as it is moved rearwardly across the work support even though it is supported only at a point at its edge.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a side elevation of one embodiment of v the invention, with parts broken away for clarity, and an iron in working position;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 1, the iron being in inoperative position;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the iron operating parts seen in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the work support and indicating its extreme positions.

The construction shown in the drawings comprises a base plate 10 adapted to be fixed to the top of a work bench and has near one end (which will be at the rear of the device when in use) a vertical stem 12 on which is pivoted for horizontal swinging movement from side to side of the operator positioned in front of it, a work supporting plate 14. Near its front corners the base plate 10 has a pair of rollers, one of which is shown at 16 (Fig. 1), arranged to give rigid support to mally in a central position underneath the line parallel links such the work plate 14 while it moves about its pivot 12 as above indicated.

The front portion of the work plate 14 is raised slightly above the level of the rest of the plate and forms a work support in the form of a table 18 which is preferably covered with a cloth or like covering 20 clipped on by an extensible band 22.

Rigidly mounted on the stem 12 and above the work plate 14 is a bracket 24 which carries upstanding lugs 26, 28 to which are pivoted respectively two bell crank levers 30, 32 connected by a link 33 at the upper ends of their main arms and pivoted at these points to links 34, 36 which are in turn pivoted to the front and rear ends of a plate 38 fixed to the top of an iron 40 which conveniently may be an electric domestic laundry iron of which the handle is replaced by the plate 38. The iron is mounted point leading and is heated by electric power delivered through a connection of the usual flexible type as shown at 42.

One arm of the bell crank lever 30 is connected to a pedal (not shown) by a rod 44, and similarly one arm of the bell crank lever 32 is connected to another pedal (also not shown) by a rod 46. The connections between the links 34, 36 are constituted by the link 33 at one end and at the other end by the iron 40 itself and form a system of that when one pedal is depressed (for example, that connected to the rod 44 and the bell crank lever 30) the main arms of both bell crank levers 30, 32 are rocked backwardly so that the links 34, 36 move the iron 40 toward the rear of the work table 14, the forward point of the iron slightly overlapping the table covering 20, as shown in Fig. 2. When the pedal connected to the rod 46 is depressed, the main arms of the bell crank levers are rocked forwardly, causing the iron to slide forwardly horizontally across the table, the iron 40 resting with its full weight upon the table 18, as shown in Fig. 1.

In order to lift the iron 40 a small distance above the surface of the covering 20 when it is retracted by depression of the pedal connected to the rod 44, a rocking iron supporting member 48 is provided having a substantially right angled notch 50 (Fig. 1) arranged to receive the rear edge of the iron. The support 48 is pivoted on a horizontal pin 52 fitted between lugs, one of which is shown at 54 projecting upwardly from the base 10, and extending through an aperture in the work supporting plate 14. The support 48 is engaged by the iron an edge of which is received by the notch when the latter is moved rearwardly across the work support and, upon continued movement of the iron, is rocked on its pivot and thus elevates the iron, as shown in Fig. 2, bodily, on account of the parallel linkage connection, a short distance (conveniently one quarter of an inch or less) above the covered work table. As indicated in Fig. 2, a portion of the bracket 24 acts as a stop to limit rearward pivotal movement of the support, and since the weight of the iron tends to rotate the iron support toward the stop the iron therefore is held elevated until the operator moves it sufficiently to swing the stop forward beyond its vertical position.

The work plate 14 preferably has a light spring 56 connecting it to the base 10 so as to hold it norof travel of the iron.

In working with the above device, the operator will place a work-piece, for instance a shoe upper vamp, upon the work table 18 with an appro priately shaped backing piece on top of it and will then depress the appropriate pedal, causing the iron 40 to slide forward over the work. Then, by swinging the table 18 against the tension of the light spring 56 from side to side as far as, it may be, the positions indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4, the operator will cause the whole area of the work-piece, which is often considerably wider than the iron, to be traversed under the iron. The cloth or similar covering 20 on the work table 18 provides sufficient frictional grip between the work-piece and the table to prevent theformer from shifting on the latter during such traversing movement. When the backing piece and work-piece have been satisfactorily ironed, depression of the second pedal will cause the iron 40 to be drawn back free of the work into the position of Fig. 2 and lifted as above indicated, the iron remaining in this position until again required.

It often occurs that the shoe upper parts of certain kinds of leather come to the backing operator in a wrinkled condition, especially near an edge thereof. such wrinkles be smoothed out before such wrinkled portions are caused permanently to adhere to the backing.

With a device as described above, the operator, by suitable actuation of the pedals, may cause the iron to move backward and forward to any desired extent and may thus cause the point of the iron to traverse over a wrinkled portion as often as may be desired and smooth out the ma- It is naturally important that V terial under the backing piece by localized pressure. During such operation, the operator has both hands free for manipulating the work-piece since the iron movement is entirely foot controlled.

Having thus described my invention, what I,

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A device for operating upon sheet material comprising a work support, pressing means mounted for movement across said support, said,

across said support, and means for resisting.

movement of said work support from its central position.

3. A pressing device comprising a work support mounted for movement in opposite directions from a normal position, an iron for pressing a work-piece against said support and arranged for movement across the support, and means for yieldingly holding said support in its normal position.

4. A pressing device comprising a work support mounted for movement in opposite directions from a central position, an iron for pressing a work-piece against said support and arranged for movement across the support, and means for returning said support to its central position after being displaced to either side thereof.

5. An ironing device comprising a work support mounted for movement in a direction included by its work engaging surface, an iron mounted for movement across said support, and

resilient means for resisting the said movement of the support.

6. A device for operating on sheet material comprising a frame, a work support mounted for movement laterally with respect to said frame, an iron mounted for movement across said support, and a spring connecting said support and frame arranged yieldingly to hold the support in a predetermined position.

7. A device for operating on sheet material having, in combination, a work support, an iron movable across said support in opposite directions, said support being mounted to swing from a normal position toward either side of the path of the iron, and a spring acting upon said support to,

urge it toward its normal position.

8. A device for operating on sheet material having, in combination, a work support, an iron mounted for movement across said support in opposite directions, and means for operating said iron comprising plural mechanisms each having a bell crank, a link connecting the iron and the bell crank, and means for operating the bell crank.

9. An ironing device having, in combination, a work support, an iron, said support and iron being mounted for movement in mutually transverse directions, and means for operating said iron comprising a parallel link mechanism constructed and arranged to maintain a relation of parallelism between the Work engaging faces of the iron and support.

10. A device for operating on sheet material having, in combination, a work support, an iron mounted for movement across and toward and from said support, and means for operating said iron comprising plural mechanisms each having a bell crank and a link connecting the iron and the bell crank, and a link connecting the bell cranks constructed and arranged to maintain said links in parallel relation whereby a relation of parallelism also maintained between the work engaging faces of the iron and support when they are separated.

11. A pressing device having, in combination, a work support, means for pressing a workpiece against said support mounted for movement across and toward and away from said support, means adapted for engagement with the pressing means for lifting it from engagement with the support as it is moved rearwardly across the support, and a parallel link mechanism for moving said pressing means across said support constructed and arranged to maintain a relation of parallelism between the work engaging face of the support and the pressing means when they are separated.

12. An ironing device having, in combination, a work support, an iron mounted for movement across and toward and away from said support, said work support being mounted for movement transverse to that of said iron, an iron support operated by rearward movement of the iron to lift the iron from the work support, and means for moving the iron across said support constructed and arranged to maintain a relation of parallelism between the work engaging face of the iron and support when they are separated.

13. A device for operating on sheet material having, in combination, a work support, an iron mounted for movement across and toward and away from said support, means operated by rearward movement of the iron across the support for lifting the iron from the support, and a parallel link mechanism for maintaining a relation of parallelism between the work engaging face of the iron and support when they are separated.

14. A device for operating on sheet material having, in combination, a work support, an iron mounted for movement across and toward and away from said support, said work support being mounted to swing laterally with respect to the direction of movement of the iron, a pivoted iron support having a notch arranged to receive an edge of the iron and to elevate the iron as it is moved across the work support in engagement with the iron support, and means for moving said iron across said support constructed and arranged to maintain a relation of parallelism between the work engaging faces of the iron and the work support when they are separated.

15. A device for operating on sheet material having, in combination, a work support, an iron mounted for movement across and toward and away from said support, a pivoted iron support arranged to receive an edge of the iron and to elevate the iron when it is moved rearwardly across the work support, and means comprising a parallel link mechanism for maintaining a relation of parallelism between the work engaging face of the iron and work support when they are separated.

GEORGE HAZELTON. 

